Equip & Empower with Christine Caine - EP 26 You Were Born for This

[Music] access more this is equip and empower the christine kane podcast for everyone who desires to bring hope create change and live out their god-given destiny with passion and joy here's your host christine kane [Applause] hi everyone i am so fired up that you've joined us today i am so excited about what we're going to talk about today i know that god's got a word for you today it's going to be absolutely awesome you know nick and i we absolutely we love sport we love to watch more than play nowadays but back in the day i loved it i was an athlete through school i actually played table tennis for my state and i was rated number four in australia for my age group which makes my children laugh because they think i'm forrest gump um the table tennis club they're like mum could you not be good at some really great sport like you know tennis or something but no um ping pong but it's a great party trip because i was a youth worker for 15 years and so i would turn up to youth camps and all the guys would think they're like super cool and i would just smile knowing that i've got this little gift and you know when you're at youth you need to leverage everything when you're in youth work so i would turn up and they'd be like chris chris you know let's take you out in table tennis and i would just turn up and i'd play left-handed at first so that i would look ridiculous and then you'd get the big cool guys trying to you know impress all the girls and then i would just smile because i'm shorter than just about everybody and so i turn up and then i'll just change to my right hand and i'm just like 21 love 21 love 21 love and suddenly my credibility would go to a whole new level because i've got these secret talents so anyway i wish it was something great but having said that we went uh to the olympic games not to compete i'd love to tell you all that i went to compete but no no like 86 000 other people in sydney uh we were spectators and so what happened was sydney hosted the olympic games in the year 2000 and so i love all events but i particularly love the relay and because i'm a chick i love women's events as well so nick and i had the opportunity to go to see the women's four by 100 meter really and the final and there's like no event like the final you know the the atmosphere is just electric and uh america had the fastest ever on paper women's four by 100 meter team you guys should have won because the team the athletes in that team were unbelievable on paper each one in their own right was a champion of of course their their 100 meter leg as a team they should have absolutely creamed the sydney 2000 olympics and gotten a gold medal but what happened and as we were all sitting there watching coming into the final exchange what happened was they just got a bit sloppy because they were leading by so much coming in you know if this is a a relay baton the runner came running in you can see my great style here she came running in and as she sort of just slowed down didn't really care well while they just kind of got sloppy in a heartbeat and that's all it takes in an olympic final the bahamas and jamaica just fully overtook the american team and basically where america was just about to get a gold medal with that last sloppy exchange they went from gold to bronze like you do in less than a second and everyone was just absolutely shocked now what is also amazing is you know when you're in a crowd there's always 86 000 spectators and only the equivalent of eight runners that are going to run a race because to be a spectator requires a really different skill set than being a participator as in you don't have to be good at anything but being a critic and so you because of course if it was you running because all around me i could hear these people going she should have done this i would have done that they could have done and i thought that is just such a spectator you're sitting in there eating your pie and while you are telling this olympic athlete that she coulda she shoulda and she woulda that's how you know you're a spectator you always coulda woulda and shoulda and there's only very few people that will ever pay the price to do the work that it takes to no longer be a spectator but to be a participator and to be running in in the race well anyway america was absolutely devastated so then we get to the next olympic games which is um the 2004 olympics and that's in athens greece so of course that's my favorite because you all know that i'm greek and everybody wants to be greek i know that so in the midst of that of course i was excited now my husband always laughs because greeks it doesn't matter how many generations removed you are from actually being born in greece you're still greek so my parents were born in alexandria egypt my grandparents were born in izmir in turkey and my great-great-grandparents were born in greece i was born in australia my children are being born in america but if you ask me what are my kids i'm like they're greek of course they're greek and so it's just the way that it works so i was watching the athens olympic games and i was in europe at the time my mother was in sydney australia and we were weeping at the opening ceremony as the greek flag comes out and i'm just like greeks are just crazy if you've seen my big fat greek wedding that is my big fat greek life and so that's what would happen so anyway i'm watching the 2004 olympics of course i'm locked in to the women's 4x100 meter final again because it is just such an awesome event and again it is astounding to me because on paper the american team should have won they had the fastest runners they had the best orchestrated team right there on paper but this is what happened this time marion jones was coming into the exchange zone to hand off the baton to lauren williams well here is the issue the day before marion jones had jumped 11 times in the long jump and so she was fatigued now you could imagine they had practiced this thousands and thousands and thousands of times they could do it in their sleep but as marion jones came into the exchange zone because in a relay you might be aware there's a 20 meter exchange zone and if you just have a look at the track you'll see that there's a 20 meter zone where you have to pass the baton within that zone it has to go from one runner to the next in that exchange zone now if it doesn't happen in that exchange zone then you're disqualified and it doesn't matter how fast you were coming into that exchange zone if you don't hand over seamlessly and effectively then the whole race is actually won or lost in that 20 meter exchange zone so marion jones comes in lauren williams has her hand out she's getting ready but marion jones has run out of steam because she was fatigued from the day before and you can actually see her in the video going you know basically telling her to slow down i can't get the baton to you so by the time she got it into lauren williams hand it was outside of the exchange zone now if you hand over outside of the exchange zone then you're disqualified you've only got that 20 meter race so of course everyone's devastated again so then we get to 2008 and we're in beijing of course all of us wannabe athletes are locked into the olympic games again we wait for our once every four year moment to spectate and pretend that we're running and so in all of that i'm watching the women's four by one hundred meter relay event again now this time again on paper the american female team is the fastest team on paper but this time what happened as they came into one of the exchanges there was a misunderstanding and they ended up dropping the baton in the exchange zone so again they were disqualified and it wasn't until 2012 at the london olympics where again the american team was the fastest team on paper and so as they were coming around every exchange was seamless and the american team ended up winning a gold medal so what do i tell you that 12-year history of the women's four by 100 meter relay because i think we see exemplified there exactly how the christian life is meant to be run ultimately it doesn't matter how fast you are as an individual how big the thing is that you build everything is won or lost in an exchange zone and you and i are not part of an individual sprint you and i are part of a divine relay where you and i get to carry the baton of faith to our generation what we saw in those olympic games was it didn't matter how fast any one runner was running it didn't matter if they were leading the race coming into the exchange zone because it was never about the fast runner it was all about the baton in a relay it's all about the baton going from one hand to the next hand and the baton crossing the finishing line if you do not have a seamless exchange in every exchange zone then what happens is you're disqualified and you've got to start all over again and so often in church life we do not hand the baton from one generation to the next generation in any healthy way we either hand it outside of the exchange zone way too late so we've got to start all over again or we come in and we drop the baton and so we've got to start all over again and i think what god is looking for in our generation he's saying would you be a generation that would carry the baton of faith to your generation if you are a mother would you carry it from one generation to the next would you carry the baton of faith to your workplace would you carry the baton of faith to your school would you carry the baton of faith to your community you and i have been entrusted by god to carry the baton of faith to our generation what are we doing with the baton of faith 1.9 seconds in the exchange zone determines everything and so many of us are so flippant with the baton of faith and yet god has entrusted to us in our generation this is our part of the divine relay tag where it i don't know who you're waiting for because there's nobody else coming we are it it is in our hand this is not a dress rehearsal for the real thing we are in our lane we've got to be running our race and we've got to carry the baton of faith to our generation every one of us is part of god's eternal divine relay i want you to turn with me today to the book of hebrews chapter 12. one of my favorite portions of scripture the writer to the hebrew says therefore now remembering any time you see are therefore in the bible you've got to ask yourself the question what is that they're for that's right i mean it's very deep deep deep deep therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us looking to jesus the founder and perfecter of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of god and says he therefore then since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses we are part of an eternal divine relay now do you notice it doesn't say that we are surrounded by so great a cloud of spectators because a spectator just sits in the grand stand and they just watch they just pay their ticket and they i mean in fact you could be a spectator at home with a remote control you don't even need to turn up to the event at all you could just click on and click off but we are not surrounded by spectators we are surrounded by witnesses they are people that have actually gone there before us they have run their race they have finished their course they are living in victory and they're standing in the eternal grandstand of heaven and they're cheering us on they're going tag you're it this is you you can do it we've been there before you and you can do it i know that you're going through some dark times but i've been there and we've overcome through the power of the cross of jesus and by the blood of jesus christ i know you're going through some persecution but you will overcome you're going to get through this there's nothing like someone that's gone there before you to tell you it's okay i've been in that dark hole and i've come out and i can tell you that he who promised is faithful that jesus is faithful and it says we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses we did not get here by ourselves sometimes you think you know well you know i'm just here you are not the only christian you and i are part of generations that have carried the baton of faith before us and it is so important that we remember that others have come before us because if we do not remember that others have come before us we might forget that there's still others to come after us and if you live your life for yourself and not for the generations that are going to come after you and in the world that we are living in which is so narcissistic it is so self-focused i mean hashtag selfie it is the most uploaded in all of the history of the world people are obsessed with themselves so then we do what i feel like what is good for me what makes me feel comfortable and then we forget that we are actually here to carry a baton of faith to the next generation it's actually not just part of us we are part of a great cloud of witnesses what are you doing with the baton of faith in your generation are you carrying the baton of faith to your generation do you see yourself as a christian that is on mission that has a divine assignment from god in heaven to say i am part of an eternal divine relay i have a lane that god has called me to run in and i am carrying this baton of faith for my generation and to my generation you know in the book of acts chapter 17 verse 26 the bible says and he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place that they should seek god and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him yet he is actually not far from each one of us you have to understand here the bible says that god made us and god planted us in the times and seasons and places that we're in so you might think you are where you are by accident it's not like that god woke up in heaven today and went oh he must be freaking out he is not freaking out i just want you all to know god is still on the throne it doesn't matter where wall street is you know sometimes it's up five points down five point look i don't even know who mr dow jones is but he has a schizophrenic attack every day he goes up down up there it's not like god is freaking out about the economic state of the world or the moral state or the political state he is not freaky he is god he is on the throne and he chose the times and seasons for us to be alive and he looked at all the people that he created throughout all of eternity whatever country you are in whatever city you are in you have to know you are there by god's divine design god has planted you there and god is well aware of what you are confronting economically politically socially morally environmentally because he deemed that you would be the most effective person to be his salt and his light in the midst of a broken and a dark world god has purposed the times god has purposed the seasons god has placed us where we are to be incredibly effective and fruitful to bring his kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven see our job is it just to kind of wait till the rapture so that i could go to heaven some christians live their life as if my whole goal is to go to heaven well no it's jesus's goal to get me to heaven he did that when he died on the cross i received him as my savior he rose again from the dead he's going to take me to heaven my job is to bring heaven to earth thy kingdom come thy will be done here on earth as it is in heaven he's taken me to heaven he did that through his redemptive work on the cross of calvary my job is to bring heaven to earth so wherever you are god has put you there god has placed you there so that you could be his soul you could be his light and you could be his representative from the kingdom of heaven here on earth bringing grace and mercy and love and peace and joy and hope and blessing and prosperity to the world around you that's the baton of faith you're here to carry see a lot of us we don't even realize that we don't realize that we are not a product of time but we are a product of eternity god has plucked us out of eternity he has positioned us in time and he has given us gifts and talents for the purpose of serving our generation you see many of us and i grew up in the education system in australia and they taught me at school an interesting philosophy of the origin of life and you have to be very well educated to believe this you actually have to have a lot of letters after your name and a lot of degrees to actually believe this in fact it takes more faith to believe this than it does to believe the bible but what they taught me was they said many many moons ago in the eternal nothing of the nothing two nothings came together and went bang and there it was my great grandfather the cockroach it was awesome and then the cockroach just crawled around planet earth it had a genetic mutation it went bang and there it was the frog and the frog just hopped around the planet for a while and then it had a genetic mutation it went bang and there it was the ape and the ape was you know walking around tulsa oklahoma on a very hot summer's day and so it went to the hairdresser it had a cut shave and blow dry and here we are today and so essentially they have told a generation you came from nothing you live for no reason and you're going nowhere now when you tell a generation for long enough that they came from nothing they live for no reason and they're going nowhere don't be surprised when they start living like they came from nothing and they live for no reason and they're going nowhere and when we look at a generation that lacks so much purpose that lacks so much hope that has developed so many patterns of destructive behavior that lives so aimlessly that is so confused about so many things and about gender about identity there is so much confusion there is so much hopelessness there is such a lack of a sense of identity and purpose because people have not told them that you were not born by accident you are not the product of some cosmic accident you were created in the image of god you were filled with god-given purpose and god-given destiny and god has a plan and a purpose and a destiny for your life the bible tells us in genesis chapter 1 verse 27 in his image he created them male and female i want to tell someone today you are not genderless you are created in the image of god male by intention female by intention god has created us in his image by divine design on purpose filled with his purpose and his mission and our job is to carry the baton of faith to our generation and we've got to carry it in our generation for our generation you've got to understand there is a fight and the fight is for our faith the enemy and there is an enemy and the bible says that the devil wants to steal kill and destroy your purpose and your destiny and i have never known a time on the earth like the time we're living in there is so much confusion there is so much pain there is so much chaos there is so much heartache people are losing a sense of hope and purpose and many christians are just dropping the baton of faith because it seems like it's too hard and too much work to carry it and to hold on to it and in this whole series we are going to be inspired and motivated to fight the good fight of faith to hold on to the baton of faith in our generation we do not want to drop the baton of faith in our exchange zone we are in a spiritual divine exchange zone on the earth at the moment and if you and i do not keep an eternal perspective of this divine relay then we are prone to drop the baton of faith when the temporal battles become too hard and a lot of us have been in a lot of battles and a lot of us have been in a lot of darkness and a lot of confusion and a lot of pain and it seems easier to drop the baton of faith than it is to hold the baton of faith and say i am going to hold on to this baton i'm going to keep fighting the good fight of faith i am going to stand firm on the truth of the authority of the word of god i am going to continue to be a follower of jesus christ regardless of the cost whether i am persecuted at work whether i am ridiculed and and mocked because i'm a christian and people think that i am just totally irrelevant or they think that i hold some moral absolutes that are a cake in the society in which i live the scripture has said these are the days that you're going to live in so don't go dropping the baton of faith just because it's dark just because it's hard we need some grit we need some tenacity we need some fight we need some strength we need some courage we need some perseverance we need some endurance we need some conviction that there is a fight worth having and it is a fight for the gospel of the lord jesus christ we are carrying the baton of faith to our generation and for our generation and i love it the bible says in acts 13 36 for david after he had served the purposes of god in his own generation he fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and i want you to know that david served the purposes of god in his generation this is not deep you do not need this scripture and this verse translated in greek hebrew or aramaic in his generation means in his generation and you know why because you're only ever alive in your generation you're not alive in any other generation if it was going to be your time 50 years from now you would have been born 50 years from now if it was your time to run with the baton of faith 100 years ago you would have been born 100 years ago but thus saith the lord this is a deep prophetic word the fact that you are alive today the fact that you woke up today and there was not a white chalk mark around your body it means you're alive and so god says there is no plan b this is no dress rehearsal i have given you the baton of faith in your generation for your generation will you rise up and carry this baton to your generation in jesus name in jesus name [Music] [Applause] thanks for listening today we hope today's message has encouraged and helped you by the way we'd love to see you positioned to experience all the great things god wants to do in your life and we've got a special gift that'll help you do that just go to christinecaine.com forward slash podcast devotional and download your free copy of christine's 14-day devotional spiritual growth spurts

Channel: AccessMore

Views: 350

Rating: 5 out of 5

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Id: U3Rip9M-HJM

Length: 24min 29sec (1469 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 28 2020